Harvard premed strongly considering switching to IB
Hi guys, first time posting on this forum, my friend told me to post here for better advice. I just finished my freshman year at Harvard and I’m honestly sick of these premed classes, I was thinking of pivoting to investment banking and then PE. I didn’t enjoy my premed courses and got Bs in them. i was wondering how should I move ahead if I want to do ib and break into a top firm? It’s not too late is it? Another big problem is my concentration/major rn is a life science and idk if I should keep that or do smth else? I don’t wanna do Econ or anything math related. I was more interested in gov but idk if that would look good or even matter. Just looking for any general advice, and I was told to network but not sure where to start hahaha. Also should I comp some finance clubs or is it too late for that
You're in a good position. Just because you go to Harvard, many will be willing to overlook whatever your major is. That being said, finance is pretty math heavy, albeit the math is basic most of the time. If you are still interested in biology, you can definitely parlay that into healthcare IB, life sciences & healthcare equity research, etc. The most important thing is just beginning to join some clubs and network. From Harvard you will be able to get an interview anywhere, but you'll still need to know how to be successful in the interview, and that information is readily available online. P.S. if you want to switch your major, I'm sure you'd be able to get by studying history.
You could keep the life science major if you wanna do healthcare IB - CVP Biopharma is a top group, attainable from Harvard, and you will make 200k+ out of school while getting cranked. Its more important that you know your technicals cold vs studying econ, since you go to harvard you will get interviews studying anything - as long as you have experience + GPA
What tier of schools do you thinkmajor starts mattering for recruitment?
Probably the tier of school you go to if you’re asking this question lol
Was at a target school in London and made the jump from a life science (very lab/ research based) degree to securing a summer internship in healthcare IB, when I realised I didnt want to do the whole MSc --> PhD thing at the end of my 1st year. I'm not too sure about the US target rankings but I'm sure just being at Harvard will get you an interview somewhere. You can try to switch major to something easier and go down a generalist IB route or just keep your major and target healthcare IB stuff, though I don't think many places do pure HC at undergrad/ let you choose your coverage team SA level - maybe its diff in the US. Assuming you have close to 0 experience and technical knowledge, the 1st things I'd recommend would be to:
- Join a finance related club at Harvard and attempt to get into its leadership/ into a student fund or smth
- Join an external finance related club (eg: in London we had things like Sortino M&A group, Mergersight group, I would assume something similar that is inter-university)
- You must do some sort of course to 'prove' you want IB - whether its getting a certification (WSO, BIWS, CFI etc) or building out your own portfolio of ER documents, DCF analyses etc. Without technical knowledge, any interview will be a waste of time - a book and workbook that helped me was 'Rosenbaum and Pearl'. There is no mercy on technicals because we do a different degree, the expectations of knowledge are the same!
- Go onto LinkedIn and look at Harvard alums in HC IB (if you decide to do HC IB and want to keep ur STEM major). Reach out to them and figure out if anyone with a similar profile made the move you want to make - is it even feasible?
- Try and get something to do this summer - doesn't have to be IB, just something to prove you want the switch right now
- Get and keep ur GPA as high as possible
That's pretty much what I did and it turned out ok
Cold email every boutique IB you can find in the next few weeks that takes freshman/sophmore interns. Like spend a full 2 days 10-12h of just curating a list of these super small cap IB firms who take unpaid part time interns. Once you have a list of 75-100, cold email them saying you want to gain experience/show a strong interest in learning and contributing and bc you go to Harvard I guarantee a handful will get back to you, likely with a positive response. To hedge your bets, curate a similar list of search funds or family offices to have something on your CV if the IB thing doesnt work out. If you have any interest in pharma/bio/healthcare in the furure within a commercial capacity, I would definitely NOT switch majors. There are very few Bio/Chem majors from a school as esteemed from Harvard who have a legitimate a) interest in finance and b) some experience/shown interest (by product of your internships that you will have gotten via the method above). Healthcare IB/ER/whatever is very technical in the sense that having a passion or at least the perception of a passion for the work can work in your favour, and you have a great background for it. Imo, even if you realize that Healthcare IB/Investing is not your thing, you can always pivot back to med school if that's what you really love. But if I were you and having serious doubts about that now i'd keep the major, double down on your story being someone who loves the science but wants to apply it in a commercial/financial capacity and market yourself as the #1 Healthcare IB/PE/ER guy from HYPSWM
This is a sad reality. Instead of doing good and being a doctor, you know want to be a banker? I am so confused on why the smartest people now want to be a banker as opposed to a doctor? I guess Peter Thiel was right all along that the smartest minds will chase WallStreet rather than innovating and changing the world. Harvard chose you for a reason. It is definitely not to be a banker. Think wisely.
You're free to become a doctor mate (noticed you aren't planning to though?).
Either way he will have far more global impact at a top tier HC IB/PE/HF/VC than a random doctor
Go be a doctor then. Kid gets into Harvard, he can do whatever he wants. 'Think wisely' what a retarded comment to say to a kid who lost/is losing his love for medicine at the earliest hurdle possible (freshman year of uni). Yeah, go ahead kid, sink 4 years of med school and 4-6 years of residency into something you don't love or even genuinely like, just cuz Anonymous2345060 on WSO said its your noble fucking duty to be a world changing Doctor while he works in finance pushing paper around like the rest of us
Tool
Counterpoint from someone who was in medicine and is now on the buyside. A kid who got Bs in intro science courses likely isn’t gonna be able to cut it through the entire science major and still have the grades to get good finance interviews, let alone CVP. The coursework doesn’t get easier. Bad idea to stick with it if you don’t have the interest or brainpower to study it.
Its not a question of brainpower - there are kids from random state schools who get into med school. most likely, it is a question of effort.
Effort and brainpower are not uncorrelated. Those with more brainpower can afford to spend less effort to attain the same level of understanding. Those for whom the vice versa is true have a lot tougher of a time making it through basic science curricula, or actually, any challenging coursework.
I agree here. I work at a biotech fund and whether you want to do buyside or sellside you're going to need to take the exact same courses as you would for pre-med (and be able to really understand them, not vomit it up on the MCAT). Would recommend switching to History like the other user said and putting the extra time into prepping for interviews - you could still get HC IB from any major at Harvard
Can I PM you?
I don't mind swiping - PM me if you are interested.
Wdym by swiping
Had a very similar path, went to HYP, studied life sciences major, doing healthcare IB now. PM me happy to chat if you want my advice.
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